View report page

48
Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
Water Supply.
Some remarks as to the public water supply
will be found in the general report for the district.
There still exist in Clapham certain private wells from
which persons draw their domestic supplies. Considering
the closeness of the houses in the parish it is certain that
the subsoil must be considerably polluted with organic
matter, and that, therefore, well-water must be highly
dangerous, if not at the moment of analysis so highly
polluted as to be obviously unfit for consumption. The
water of 7 wells, the sole water supply to as many houses,
was analysed during the year, and in 5 instances I was
able to advise that the owners should be required to lay
on the companies' water, which was done without
recourse to magisterial proceedings. In another instance
the owner promised to lay on the water. The wells, of
course, remain, but are not likely to be much used as it
is easier to draw water from a tap than to pump it.
Disinfection.
At present the steam disinfection of clothing,
&c. is done by a contractor, with whose methods no fault
is to be found, but it has been decided, I am glad to say,
to erect an apparatus for Clapham. There is a difficulty,
in obtaining the site as it is not possible to put it up in
the Board's yard in the Wandsworth Road. As soon as
the site is obtained the provision of a disinfecting station
is to be taken in hand.
During the year, 437 rooms in 332 houses have been
fumigated by burning sulphur by this department, and
in 18 houses the fumigation has been carried out under
the supervision of the medical man in attendance, and
certified by him.
305 lots of bedding, clothing, &c. have been disinfected
by super-healed steam by the coutractor, and one lot of
bedding has been burnt,